Romanian KFC Campaign Taps UGC to Parody Rich Kids of Instagram

To promote KFC Romania's value meals, MRM Worldwide launched a user-generated content (UGC) campaign based on Millennials mocking a famous Instagram feed full of photos flaunting wealth.

KFC Romania is turning to user-generated social content – specifically asking consumers to act like the Rich Kids of Instagram (RKOI) – in an effort to promote its low-priced Smart Menu and boost engagement with the brand.

RKOI, an Instagram feed and hashtag that has since been made into a Tumblr, aggregates pictures of users’ luxurious lifestyles: lavish vacations, fancy cars, and outrageous bar tabs. KFC’s campaign – “Distractie cu bani putini,” which translates to “Little Money Big Fun” – is based on user-generated content: images from RKOI, side-by-side with images of Romanian Millennials parodying them.

Little Money Big Fun has a presence on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well a gallery on KFC’s website. Pictures include a private jet selfie and a toy helicopter selfie, two drastically different handbag collections, and someone pouring Dom Perignon champagne over a raw turkey next to a KFC Smart Menu combo meal, which costs 11.90 Romanian Leu. The U.S. equivalent is $3.11.

“We found the contrast between the lives of teens in Romania and the pictures of rich kids on Instagram to be a great playground for creative work,” says Nir Refuah, general manager at MRM Worldwide Romania, the McCann Erickson-owned agency that executed the campaign. “By asking Romanian teens to repose those rich kids photos, we aimed to prove that you can be creative and have fun even if you can’t afford luxurious brands and a private jet.”

rkoi-kfc-romania

In Refuah’s favorite entry, RKOI stands on top of his luxury car, while the Romanian consumer gives a thumbs-up from his bicycle. “It really shows fun drawn from a hobby, which no money can buy,” he says.

Of the different platforms KFC is utilizing, Tumblr is particularly important for brands, says Ulrik Bo Larsen, chief executive (CEO) of Falcon Social, a Danish social media management platform.

Larsen believes the image-based Tumblr naturally encourages greater creativity and better content, which generates more likes and shares. The campaign’s cross-channel element is helping its visibility and ultimately its success, he adds.

“From an engagement perspective, this campaign is fantastic, as it provides a fresh, current take on the age-old fast-food advertising angle of cheap eating,” Larsen says. “It also has likeability as a good-natured parody of a famous blog site that seems to provoke a lot of annoyance. People are tired of the negative side of social media; this flips that around and inspires people to get on board.”

The campaign launched less than a week ago, and already hundreds of users have shared their photos.

Homepage image via Shutterstock.

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